Monday Tip of the Week: Grated Cheese

Last night, I was in the process of making dinner when I realized I was out of grated cheese.  Over the weekend, my husband decided to clean out the refrigerator and tossed out anything and everything that was over a week old.  Bless his heart for helping me out, but I didn't appreciate it so much while making dinner. 

I had a large container of shredded parmesan and reggiano cheese from Costco and knew that shredded cheese just wouldn't make the cut.  So, I decided to throw it in my food chopper and see if I can still get the grated consistency.  Absolute success! 

Need to turn shredded cheese into grated cheese?  Try throwing it in the food chopper.  It probably won't be as moist, but it was good enough when I needed it in a pinch.  Also, I would NOT recommend doing that with any soft cheeses. 

Related Tip: you can take blocks of hard cheese and throw those in a regular sized food processor for shredded or grated cheese, too (food chopper will not work with blocks of cheese).  It's a huge timesaver!!

Enjoy and live life with gusto!
Carina

Monday Tip of the Week: Burger Patty Molds

One of my favorite - among many - shows on Food Network is Guy's Big Bite.  I love his boisterous personality, but he also loves to cook with a range of spices in every day type food that I can serve my family.  I actually keep FN or HGTV on the TV for most of the day as "background noise" and honestly, I do that as it's the two channels that I can count on that will not air anything inappropriate for my 5 year old's impressionable eyes and ears.

Last Friday, as I went about my daily household chores, I watched Guy Fieri make chicken patty burgers and his method of making them is what caught my eye.  After mixing all ingredients in a bowl, he put them into a mold so his hands - or his counter - didn't get dirty.  Genius! 

I decided to try it over the weekend - with huge success!  I don't think it's too early in the year for burgers, right??!!

Here is what I used:

Wooden Spoon (any spoon will do)
Small Round Container (I used a leftover container I purchased Blue Cheese in)
Plastic Wrap

Line your container with plastic wrap.  Leave several inches (roughly 6") as an overlay on both sides.
Scoop burger mix into the container - press down so mix fill empty space in container.
Wrap plastic wrap to cover. 
Take out of container - voila!  You have your burger patty - ready to go!!!



By the way, the chicken patties were delicious - recipe to come later this week!!  Perfect for football watching!

-Carina